Dee and I packed my things within the next hour. Dee didn't give me a chance to protest. I just sat on the bed, in my own world, watching her rush around the room looking for my things. She wouldn't let me call and tell Markus to let him know I was leaving.

She was angry, not only with what Markus did but with me also. I kept the elevator kiss from her and everything else after that. "If you would have told me, maybe I could have stopped you from doing this." She kept muttering to herself, more to me but not as loud as she'd have liked. She likes to shame me, but she never does it when I'm emotional; she'll wait until I've had time to adjust.

She got all my things packed we were on our way. However, when she opened my door, there he was—bad timing on his part. Without saying a word, she stomped on his foot with her stilettos and grabbed my hand, moving us around his hunched and groaning body. We made it to the elevator and waited.

"The hell was that for! And who the fuck are you?!"

The elevator opened at this point, and Dee shoved me in, holding the doors open with her body while simultaneously blocking him from making eye contact with me.

"I am her best friend..and that was for manipulating her to sleep with you!" She stomped on his foot again, "I hope I broke something!" She yelled as the doors closed, and she hit the button for the lobby.

She screamed at the poor receptionist to check me out and got us a taxi to the airport.

We didn't speak the whole way back, and I knew she was fuming. I just wanted her to get it over with, but she wouldn't say a word to me.

"Would you please just get it over with?"

"Janice, not now. I'm not in the mood," she didn't even look at me.

"I don't understand why you kept that stuff from me! I'm your best friend.

I could see she was hurt, hurt that I kept it a secret. I'd never done that to her. "I'm sorry. I didn't know what to do. I guess I was hoping it would go somewhere, and in the far back of my mind, I knew you would see the bullshit, and I didn't want to.

He kissed me as he meant it. It wasn't like that night. It wasn't pure lust; it was more than that. I was hoping he would open up. Not throw me aside."

She came to me and hugged me. She wasn't angry anymore; she understood my feelings. "You know what you have to do now?"

"Quite?"

"No, you'll never find a job like this. You have to be professional from now on. No longing looks. No elevator rides with just the two of you, and definitely no business trips with just the two of you. You do nothing with him alone. Nothing."

I nodded. She was right; I wouldn't control the situation if it were just him and I. But with a third person, he wouldn't have a choice.